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Nail Tech Goes Hollywood, Gets Work.

Nail technician Juli Miller-Chen finds that using a photo along with a business card gets her remembered in the competitive arenas of advertising and magazine covers.

The 8 X 10 glossy a time-honored tradition in Hollywood. Actors, models, and entertainers of all kinds distribute them freely, hoping to capture the eye of anyone able to advance their career. When Juli Miller-Chen, a nail technician at Canyon Fitness Salon in Canyon Lake, Calif., began to compete for highly coveted assignments doing nails for commercials and magazine covers, she too found that handing out a photo, in addition to the more traditional business card, was a way to get herself noticed and remembered.

Miller-Chen’s 8 X 10 is not glossy. Commonly called a “composite” in the business, the black-and-white photo features her face among several sets of well-manicured hands. “It’s a wav of getting people to remember me and to realize that I went to a lot of time and trouble. They’re also more apt to keep the composite on file for future reference because they’re used to receiving photos,” she says. Miller-Chen has been doing nails for eight years, and print ads and covers for almost four. She credits her first NAILS Magazine cover (September 1993) as her big break. For Miller-Chen, it’s about being a professional. Whether you’re doing a job or looking for one, it’s important to have the right tools.